#boy I posted this when I was tired that's a cd not a dvd

[casekt]

[countmothra]

More misc. Abbey operation thoughts because I’m insane.

• There is an Infirmary of sorts within the abbey that will deal with the populations more minor to moderate health problems. But for anything severe like broken bones and serious and chronic illnesses they go to the nearest hospital for licensed medical attention.

• The abbey also has a Nursery/Daycare area because there are obviously kids living in the abbey because some siblings of sin come into the church already with kids or choose to have kids.

•Speaking of which, and going off an old headcannon of mine. Children in the abbey are raised communally, sure they know who their parent(s) are but everyone pitches in regardless of if it’s their kid or not. Only exception is Emeritus kids, they are raised ONLY by their immediate family (parent/s, siblings, grandparents) to make sure they have as much exposure to their future role as possible.

• Some of the siblings plan activity nights. Be it making crafts, watching a movie or playing board games, it’s all meticulously planned with sign up sheets and a suggestion box.

•Every six months there is 100% a day where EVERYONE in the abbey is tasked with deep cleaning. Nobody is safe from cleaning day. Ghouls, siblings, papas, higher clergy member, everyone is put to work scrubbing every last stone in that abbey until it shines. The chapel of ritual stinks like dead human sacrifice and Sister Imperator is tired of it.

• Old lady knitting club. Just a bunch of the oldest sisters of sin knitting and talking shit. Imperator goes on Fridays to decompress and gossip.

•there are secret passages in the abbey that some of the teenage inhabitants of the abbey hide in to do the typical rebellious teenage things like smoke weed and drink the wine they stole off the altar.

•BIG! LIBRARY! Books, lots of ‘em! All over! Just a whole bunch of physical media meticulously stored in a library for anyone to use for any purpose. Books? Hell yeah! Vinyl records? Of course! Cassette tapes? You bet! CD’s? Whole section of them! Film reels? They may not be pristine but they got those too! VHS tapes, DVD’s, they have it all archived.

•jobs for each and every sibling and ghoul are posted on a bulletin board outside of imperators office, just in case anyone forgets.

•piggybacking off my last batch of headcannons, they definitely sell some of their excess produce when the Papas aren’t actively touring. Money is still coming in from albums and whatnot, sure, but it’s nice for the ministry to have that little extra cash.

•The papas teach some of the religion classes and it’s a gamble on who they teach because their class could be made up of adults just entering into the fold or literal toddlers who can’t even spell “cat” yet.

Which brings me to silly scenarios that have 100% happened because I said so.

• Primo had to teach toddlers once. They did not care about the simplified version of how Lucifer fell, all they cared about was the sick new monster truck in the toy chest. Primo did have to admit that this monster truck was pretty cool as it was one of the cars where you pull it back enough and it goes forward on its own. (You know what I’m talking about)

• The old ladies in the knitting club are old enough to remember when each of the Emeritus boys were born. So whenever a rumor spreads about one of those boys, they are the first ones to discuss it. “Did you hear that Nihils youngest boy got drunk and started doing the most bizarre things to the furniture?” “Terzo?” “No! The younger one! Copia I think his name is… oh I remember when he was just a tot…” these devolve into wandering down memory lane.

• When Imperator goes, it’s mostly to gossip and drink wine. She’ll maybe knit a scarf…maybe…

• Terzo taught a class of teens once, and never again. Two teen girls pointed out how damaged his skin was and that he did a shit job covering his grays with box dye. He never wants to do that again.

• During those big cleaning days twice a year, it’s never the chapel that’s the filthiest, it’s the ghouls quarters. It’s always the ghouls quarters.

[eldweena]

So...road trip this weekend. This is pretty absurd, but we don’t really have used bookstores here... We have a Books-A-Million at the mall, which dabbles in used books but just barely, and a nerdy store called The Inner Geek that has some books but mostly vintage toys and tabletop gaming gear. And I heard someone opened a book café, but it’s on the far end of town and the online photos made it look more café and less book. (Maybe it’s BYOB, bring-your-own-book?) ANYWAY. Point being. When we want to brose a *good* used bookstore - which I often do, because I love out-of-print classic fantasy novels - we have to leave the state. So Saturday we drove two hours to Lexington because they have a couple Half Price Books stores. And after a full year of not leaving town due to COVID, we had like 7 bags full of books, CDs, video games, and DVDs to sell. Everything went great at the first store. We got there shortly after they opened at 10:00 am and there were signs posted everywhere saying one person per aisle. They had a sign on the door, and also called over the intercom, that your mask must cover your NOSE as well as your mouth. They’re taking the pandemic seriously and holding customers accountable! I was very pleased. We got $50 for half our sell-backs and found a lot of great buys, too. Then we had lunch at Schlotzky’s. I didn’t mean to take her picture, but in the background you can see a masked woman. She brought a book into the restaurant to read and it made my heart feel happy! After lunch we found an Asian market and my wife stocked up on sweets and drinks. Then we headed to the second HPB, and that’s where we somehow picked up a stalker. This store was a different experience entirely. This time we only got $30 for our remaining sell-backs (we split the selling into two trips so we wouldn’t have to be running back and forth between the store and the car in one go), and while the signage was the same, nobody was adhering. We were looking at science fiction paperbacks and a tall man talking loudly on his phone kept stepping closer to me until he literally brushed my arm. He wasn’t even looking at books - he was on the phone. I pointedly stomped around the other side of our cart to get away from him and while he didn’t stutter in his phone conversation, he did go away. I was about ready to make a scene with a loud, “EXCUSE ME - SIX FEET!” My god!!! People piss me off. Then we went to look at some gaming books because my wife found some old White Wolf manuals and we kind of collect them. (I did LARP Vampire: the Masquerade and MAGE briefly, but mostly I keep them for writing inspiration because the worldbuilding is just fascinating...) This time a young male kept inching his way closer while we were examining the two books they had. (The MAGE manual was brand new, velvet-lined, purple, and pristine. Also $60, so I passed. The Camarilla book was an older edition of the one I have, and the pages were pretty filthy, so I also passed.) I thought initially the guy wanted to look at the gaming books because - I say this only because he had glasses and unkempt hair - he looked like a nerd. Turns out, that was not the case. I caught the same guy staring at us as we moved to another section of the store, where he suddenly also happened to be. My wife went into the young adult alcove and was quickly swarmed by three girls. I couldn’t even get into the crowded aisle (again, the limit was supposed to be one person!) so I went to another shelf to look at true crime. I checked the YA books a couple more times, waiting for it to clear out some. And the guy was hanging around a corner. Not even alone, he was with a girl and I think another guy. By then I was feeling annoyed. I had a fucking mask on, so I knew he wasn’t really looking at my face??? We then looked at middle grade because I’m always on the lookout for Donna Jo Napoli, and that’s where they stick her, and i SAW The SAME GUY! He was never actually looking at books. He was always just standing there, looking out of place and hella awkward, never alone but with the same two people, but he was always looking at us. I wasn’t sure if my wife had noticed so I said, “Let’s get the fuck outta here. I’m tired of that guy staring at us.” She hadn’t noticed, but loudly proclaimed, “Where is he? I’ll stare right back?” I just said again, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” We took our cart of books (yep, found some more) up to the registers. AND THAT MOTHERFUCKER FOLLOWED US. He like...jumped in line behind us, took a sliding leap. He was holding some things so I was like...well, I guess he could be checking out at the same time as us, coincidentally...??? But this time he was without his companions. So we started checking out and I whisper-hissed to my wife, “That’s--” and she said, “I know.” Then, loudly, she said how rude it was for people to stare. Our cashier said something (I’m hard of hearing so I don’t know what he said; my wife said he told her something like, “I understand, I’m sorry that happened to you”), then the other cashier, who I thought was checking that stalker-boy out, held up a flower book and asked, “Is this yours?” We were like...uh....no...and went about our business. After we checked out I grabbed our bags and was trying to like, run for the door. He’d only had like two things in his hands when I saw him scurry into line, and I was scared he’d try and follow us. I’m one of those people who fumbles and drops things and typos and gets all sorts of clumsy when I try to hurry, so it took twice as long as it should have. Finally we got out the door and I kept whisper-hissing to my wife, let’s hurry to the car. And she was like, no, if he follows us I’m going to tell him to fuck off! We got to the car and loaded up our books as fast as possible, and I just wanted the hell out of that parking lot, but my wife was like, no, there’s a trash can beside the store entrance and I’m dumping our garbage. I didn’t want to hesitate or linger, but despite her insistence that she could do it alone, I went with her. That guy gave me a really bad feeling. He could have been a harmless staring-type of creeper, but regardless, I wasn’t about to let her find out on her own. We went back to the store, and as she dumped our trash my wife said that guy was still in the store, fucking staring at us through the window. When they made eye contact, he ducked away from the corner and went down an aisle. I felt shaky for almost an hour after that, until we were headed out of Lexington and absorbed in an audiobook. I don’t feel like it was all harmless coincidence. How many times can you run into the same person in a store, even a small one? Why was he even there, if he wasn’t interested in books? I’m not sure if he even bought anything, or did he hand that flower book to “his” cashier and try to get her to give it to us as a creepy gift from him? Like, I don’t even know what was up with that flower book. We weren’t even at that end of the counter. We also considered that he might have gotten it into his head that we were shoplifting. I don’t know what would have given him that impression, other than perhaps the fact that I kept taking my cell phone out of my hoodie pocket and tucking it back, as I was comparing prices online versus the store, as I always do... I did see him lean over the counter and talk to the cashiers as we were leaving, and I thought at the time, is he complaining about us? Did he think we were stealing??? Which we weren’t, nor were we behaving suspiciously in any way. And, if he had thought that, why hadn’t he reported us the first or second times we bumped into each other, instead of waiting until seeing us check out and then jumping into line behind us? I mean, WTF. My best guess was that he perceived two girls looking at gaming books and got nerdily excited. But he didn’t try and start a conversation, he just. kept. staring. Men, don’t do this, ever. Women have enough shit to worry about without you stalking them, even by accident, in a fucking store.

[eldritchsurveys]

850.

1. What kinds of genres of music do you listen to? >> It’d be easier to name the genres I don’t listen to...

2. Are there any types of music that you don’t listen to at all? >> ...which would be bluegrass, polka, uh... noise... K-pop... yeah, that’s all I got right now. Honestly, K-pop is probably only here because I just haven’t gone to check out any songs, not because I actively don’t like the genre.

3. Do you own any band tees? >> Yeah, most of my t-shirts are band shirts.

4. Name some of your favorite male solo artists. >> Eddie Vedder, David Bowie, Steve Vai, Orville Peck, Sam Cooke.

5. Name some of your favorite female solo artists. >> Elle King, Sia, Beyoncé, Anita Baker, Céline Dion.

6. Name some of your favorite boy-bands. >> Okay, so are we talking boy bands, like Backstreet Boys and One Direction, or just bands with dudes in them? Because I don’t really listen to boy bands anymore (aside from songs that I remember from childhood), so.

7. Name some of your favorite all-girl bands. >> Hmm... I’m not sure I listen to any all-female bands. There’s some female-fronted bands in my library, but the rest of the members are dudes.

8. Name some of your favorite bands/groups in general. >> Oof. Here’s five: Zeal & Ardor, Coheed & Cambria, Pearl Jam, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Volbeat.

9. Do you sing in the shower? >> Sometimes, if a song I know the lyrics to is playing. I listen to music every time I shower, it helps distract my hell brain.

10. Do you sing along with the radio in the car? >> I don’t sing along in the car because Sparrow has a thing about people singing.

11. Do you listen to music while you are cooking, filling out surveys, or cleaning the house? >> Sometimes I listen to music while taking surveys, but I don’t do it often because I find it too distracting. I do listen to music while cleaning, or taking walks, or doing any other task that mostly involves my body more than my brain.

12. What’s the name of the song that you’re listening to right now, if any? What’s the name of the band/singer? >> I’m not listening to music.

13. What kinds of music do your parents listen to? Do you think that their music taste differs greatly? Whose music taste is better, in your opinion? >> I grew up listening to soul, R&B, gospel, that sort of thing. I still listen to that stuff because I enjoy it.

14. Do you ever listen to music without any words? >> Sure.

15. Are there any famous musicians that you’ve met? Are there any that you would like to meet? >> Yeah, I’ve met uhh... Avenged Sevenfold, Coheed & Cambria, and Sevendust multiple times, as well as Halestorm, Steve Vai, three-quarters of Volbeat (lead singer wasn’t feeling great so he left the venue early)... yeah, I think that’s it. I used to be really into that kind of thing, but I’m largely over it now; I actually think it would be cool to see Sparrow meet Hozier, because she’s not had that experience.

16. What was the first concert you’ve been to, if any? How about the last/most recent? Which, out of all of the concerts you’ve attended, was the best? >> First concert was Avenged Sevenfold and Coheed & Cambria (co-headliner tour), in Asbury Park, New Jersey, in April 2006. The last concert I went to was Hozier here in Grand Rapids, last year sometime. I think it was last year. :x My time sense is all fucked up. Anyway, I’ve been to way too many concerts to start naming one as the best one ever, that’s crazy. Most of the shows I’ve been to were awesome as fuck (there were a couple ehhhh... ones, and then there was one I was way too high to enjoy lmao, but usually I have a great time).

17. Do you have a favorite movie soundtrack? What is it? >> I have a favourite movie soundtrack composer, actually, and that’s Clint Mansell. Everything he does is just... AAAAAAAAA for me. I can always tell when he’s done a score because I can just feel the music in my bones, and then I look at the credits and I’m like “OH OF COURSE IT WAS YOU.”

18. Would you want to be a band groupie? Why or why not? >> I had a phase way back when where I was obsessed with groupie culture (from like the late sixties through the eighties) and if you’d asked me then, I’d have said yes. I’ve wised up by now and I definitely would not want that.

19. What is a band/singer you would like to see but haven’t gotten a chance to yet? >> Yeah, there’s a lot of bands and singers like that. But I’d have to be really picky nowadays about who I went to see, because I just can’t deal with most concert environments as well as I used to anymore.

20. Do you care more about the beat of the music you listen to, or the lyrics? >> I mean, when it comes to the first listen, it’s going to be the melody that catches me. If that doesn’t happen, then I’m not even going to bother looking at the lyrics, so...

21. Does anyone in one of your favorite bands play an unusual instrument? >> I listen to some prog bands, so there’s definitely some unusual instruments happening in at least some songs.

22. What are some of the songs that you listen to the most frequently? >> I don’t know, probably Master Boot Record and Zeal & Ardor tracks. I’m a bit obsessed right now.

23. Could you make a playlist of songs that describes your life? What kinds of playlists do you have made? >> I don’t think so. I’ve definitely tried in the past, but when you really start thinking about the vast array of experiences and feelings that make up a life, it becomes fuckin impossible.

24. Do you remember listening to music on CDs and cassettes, not just on the internet? >> Yeah. Definitely don’t miss it, gotta say.

25. What kind of music device do you use in order to listen to music? (iPod, MP3 Player, etc.) >> I use my phone or computer, with Spotify.

26. Is there anyone in your family who is a musician? >> ---

27. Would you ever consider a career in music? >> No. I love music, but as a consumer.

28. What is a song that would describe your current mood? Who is it by? >> I’m not really in any kind of mood. If you know a song about being vaguely tired, then that’s it.

29. Are there any musicians of the past that you really admire? >> Well, sure...

30. Do you listen to Top 40 type music? >> I don’t even know what’s on the Top 40, so... maybe? Probably not, though, I haven’t really gotten into any mainstream-popular artists recently that I can think of.

31. What musical instrument would you like to learn how to play? Have you ever played an instrument before/taken lessons? What was it? >> I don’t really care to learn any instruments. It’s not something I feel passionate about, not like how I feel about listening to music. I’ve taken bass guitar lessons before, in like... 2008 or so? IDK. Years are fake.

32. Do you enjoy watching musicals on DVD or sitting through them as plays? Which method do you prefer, and which is your favorite? >> I would love to watch musicals live, but I definitely cannot afford it. I’m fine watching recordings of them (or movie adaptations, in some cases). My favourite stage musical is Phantom of the Opera (I say “stage musical” because I also have a favourite movie musical, and that’s Repo! the Genetic Opera).

33. What was the worst concert you’ve ever attended before, and what made it the worst? >> Taste of Chaos at Nassau Coliseum. It was the worst because arena shows are just the worst, period. I was right up in front (my friends and I camped out overnight) and I just got repeatedly slammed against the barricade and crowd-surfers landed on my head multiple times, et cetera. I’m surprised I didn’t leave with actual injuries (was wondering if I was gonna need a neck brace by the end), but I did feel pretty damn shitty the next day.

34. Have you ever crowd-surfed during a show or been a part of a mosh pit? >> Nope.

35. Have you ever gotten into an altercation with a drunken concert fan before? What happened? >> Nah, everyone I’ve met at shows have been pretty cool, if not downright awesome. That’s one thing I always loved about going to concerts, I seemed to make new friends every time.

36. Have you ever dated someone who was a musician? >> No, but I’ve fucked a few.

37. What are some of your favorite music videos to watch? >> Oh, man, it’s getting late and while I could go ham on this question, I don’t have the time right now lol. I’ll just say that I love nineties-era music videos, and some from the aughts as well. I feel like those were the best years for music videos, but that might just be nostalgia (and the fact that I haven’t really seen as many videos from the 2010s). As far as recent artists are concerned, I think Orville Peck makes really evocative and moody (not necessarily moody like pensive or depressive. mood-y. mood-evoking) videos that I appreciate.

38. Have you ever made a lyric video on YouTube? >> No.

39. Have you ever recorded a cover song and posted it? What kind of feedback did you receive? >> No.

40. Is there an album cover design that you really admire? >> I’ve seen so many excellent album covers, I couldn’t even begin to address this.

41. What are some of the most overplayed songs right now, in your opinion? >> I wouldn’t know, I don’t listen to radio or anything.

42. Do you watch music awards shows on television? >> No.

43. Have you ever competed in any sort of singing contest before? >> No.

44. Have you ever tried to start your own band before? >> No.

45. What’s the name of a band/singer that you recently have discovered? >> Dreamcar (yet another Davey Havok side project, because he just can’t be tamed, apparently).

46. What are some annoying/weird/funny songs that have gotten stuck in your head before? >> Barbara Ann gets stuck in my head all the time, but that’s okay because it’s fun and I love it.

47. Are there any songs that actually make you cry? What are they, and who are they by? >> There are many songs that make me cry. We ain’t got time for a list like that.

48. Do you listen to any music in another language? >> Sure. Off the top of my head, I can think of fave songs in German, Swedish, Japanese, Indian, and Italian. [a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

[lovemesomesurveys]

1. What kinds of genres of music do you listen to? I listen to a variety of music.

2. Are there any types of music that you don’t listen to at all? House music, trance music, dubstep...

3. Do you own any band tees? Yes, I have a few.

4. Name some of your favorite male solo artists. Charlie Puth, Post Malone, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Shawn Mendes, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, Usher, etc.

5. Name some of your favorite female solo artists. Stevie Nicks, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Demi Lovato, Halsey, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Megan thee Stallion, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, etc. 

6. Name some of your favorite boy-bands. Jonas Brothers, NSYNC, BSB, New Kids on the Block, 5 Seconds of Summer. 

7. Name some of your favorite all-girl bands. Hmm. Only girl groups are coming to mind, but that’s different than a band. The only one that comes to mind at the moment is Aly & Aj. 

8. Name some of your favorite bands/groups in general. Linkin Park, RHCP, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, 3 Doors Down, Maroon 5, Destiny’s Child, Paramore, Fleetwood Mac, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco...

9. Do you sing in the shower? Yeah. I have a shower playlist on my Spotify I listen to.

10. Do you sing along with the radio in the car? Well, my family plays their Spotify in their cars, but yeah I often sing along if I like the song playing.

11. Do you listen to music while you are cooking, filling out surveys, or cleaning the house? I listen to it when I’m cleaning, getting ready, taking a shower, in the car, or just chillin’.

12. What’s the name of the song that you’re listening to right now, if any? What’s the name of the band/singer? I’m not listening to music at the moment. 

13. What kinds of music do your parents listen to? Do you think that their music taste differs greatly? Whose music taste is better, in your opinion? My dad listens to a lot of classic rock, rock, and country, but he likes some top 40 type stuff. My mom listens to a variety of music like I do. Since I like a variety, I enjoy a lot of the same music as my both parents. Probably more so my mom, though. 

14. Do you ever listen to music without any words? Not often, but sometimes. Like some classical music. It has been awhile, though.

15. Are there any famous musicians that you’ve met? Are there any that you would like to meet? I met Drake Bell a couple times. I wish I could have met Chester Bennington. :(

16. What was the first concert you’ve been to, if any? How about the last/most recent? Which, out of all of the concerts you’ve attended, was the best? My first concert was a Christian alternative band with my first boyfriend. My last concert was Green Day with my best friend at the time. Green Day, Jonas Brothers, Drake Bell, and the Jingle Ball concerts (had several artists/bands perform) I went to were all awesome. 

17. Do you have a favorite movie soundtrack? What is it? Sweeney Todd.

18. Would you want to be a band groupie? Why or why not? No.

19. What is a band/singer you would like to see but haven’t gotten a chance to yet? There’s several. I’m really sad I never got to see Linkin Park. 

20. Do you care more about the beat of the music you listen to, or the lyrics? Both. I mean, there’s songs that I just like or are catchy and the lyrics don’t matter as much, but I love songs with relatable lyrics that just speak to me.

21. Does anyone in one of your favorite bands play an unusual instrument? I mean, they might in addition to the one they play in the band, but *shrug*

22. What are some of the songs that you listen to the most frequently? There’s a lot. I just hit shuffle on my main Spotify playlist, which consists of a variety of genres and arists/bands. That’s the playlist I listen to all the time.

23. Could you make a playlist of songs that describes your life? What kinds of playlists do you have made? I wouldn’t have the motivation or energy to attempt that. It would take a lot of time and thinking.

24. Do you remember listening to music on CDs and cassettes, not just on the internet? Yes.

25. What kind of music device do you use in order to listen to music? (iPod, MP3 Player, etc. I listen to Spotify on my phone.

26. Is there anyone in your family who is a musician? No.

27. Would you ever consider a career in music? No. I don’t have any musical talent. I played some piano when I was younger, but I wasn’t great. I really wish I took it more seriously, though, and kept up with it. 

28. What is a song that would describe your current mood? Who is it by? lol Jason Mraz’s song, “Sleep All Day”  just popped into my head because of the title. It’s almost 7AM, so I probably will sleep all day.

29. Are there any musicians of the past that you really admire? Absolutely.

30. Do you listen to Top 40 type music? Yeah.

31. What musical instrument would you like to learn how to play? Have you ever played an instrument before/taken lessons? What was it? Like I said, I played some piano when I was younger and I wish I took it more seriously and kept up with it.

32. Do you enjoy watching musicals on DVD or sitting through them as plays? Which method do you prefer, and which is your favorite? I haven’t seen a lot of musicals, but there’s a few I’ve seen and liked. Seeing them live is awesome, but I like watching them at home whenever I want as well. Sweeney Todd is one of my favorites. Side note, Disney+ just added Hamilton and I’ve been thinking about watching it. I remember when it was super popular, so now that it’s available to watch I’d like to check it out.

33. What was the worst concert you’ve ever attended before, and what made it the worst? I’ve never been to a bad concert.

34. Have you ever crowd-surfed during a show or been a part of a mosh pit? No.

35. Have you ever gotten into an altercation with a drunken concert fan before? What happened? No.

36. Have you ever dated someone who was a musician? Joseph plays the guitar and can sing. 

37. What are some of your favorite music videos to watch? Before a week ago when MTV did a Flashback Friday thing and played music videos from the 90s and early 2000s, it had been a long time since I’ve watched any music videos. They’re not a big thing anymore, I feel like. I mean, I know they’re still being made, but it’s not like back in the day when we had TRL and MTV actually played music videos. I remember getting excited back then to watch them.

38. Have you ever made a lyric video on YouTube? No.

39. Have you ever recorded a cover song and posted it? What kind of feedback did you receive? Noooo. I can’t sing, why would I embarrass myself like that?

40. Is there an album cover design that you really admire? There’s been a lot of cool album covers.

41. What are some of the most overplayed songs right now, in your opinion? I haven’t listened to the radio in like 3 years, so I don’t know.

42. Do you watch music awards shows on television? Yes.

43. Have you ever competed in any sort of singing contest before? No. I can’t sing. I mean, I sing at home along to my favorite songs, but I don’t sing well lol.

44. Have you ever tried to start your own band before? No. I told you, I have no musical talent.

45. What’s the name of a band/singer that you recently have discovered? I discovered this song called, “Dream Girl”,  by Ir-Sais. I heard the song on TikTok. I’ve found a few songs that way, but that’s the most recent one.

46. What are some annoying/weird/funny songs that have gotten stuck in your head? >> Barbara Ann gets stuck in my head all the time, but that’s okay because it’s fun and I love it. <<< Haha, now it’s in mine. I like it, too, so it’s fine. Anyway, yeah there’s been a lot of songs like that that get stuck in my head. I’m failing to think of another example at the moment, though. I’m too tired.

47. Are there any songs that actually make you cry? What are they, and who are they by? Yes, there’s a few. One is the acoustic version of Everlong by Foo Fighters.

48. Do you listen to any music in another language? Some in Spanish. There were also a few I liked in Swedish.

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

[sakurasakiyama]

When Goodies Arrive at 10 in the Morning!...

Yeah, it’s past midnight where I am and I’m only posting this now xD Today has been a very busy day so I’m pretty tired and I still have photos from Day 1 & 2 of the Rasen events I have to post still >< Since I have the day off tomorrow, I might try to do them at that time (I’m so sorry guys and I hate that I’m falling behind already *bows*)

But aside from that, I have got some goodies today that arrived at 10 am (whilst I was trying to find the energy to get out of bed & work on Uni stuff before class) that were released last week & the week before! (Again, I apologise for the photo quality, I’m trying to find the funds for a better phone or I need to find the charger for my digital camera I’ve had since I was 13 xD)

It’s kind of Ryuji biased when you look at it, but then I made it up with some Tsubasa stuff because the trashing of Tsubasa never ends xD Let me just quickly list off what I have:

Drama Ochanomizu Rock DVD Box & Silkroadstore Benefit (I’ll go more into the benefit shortly)

KujiSuna 2018 DVD from Animate with the A3 Sized Pin-up Poster Benefit (that white rolled up thing because I don’t want to spoil it for those who I know have ordered from Animate)

KujiSuna 2016 Pamphlet (This is just as rare as the DVDs, and I managed to find it at a reasonable price for around 4,000 yen and in great condition on Mercari)

The Brow Beat Live Tour 2018 (I missed the benefit timeline xD)

Sato Ryuji’s new PB ‘Reception’ with the Photo Plate Benefit (I missed out on the signed edition w/ the calendar by a few days, so I got one with one of the photo plate benefit. I’ll show you which one I got later on)

Some of these things were expensive as I got them all through Proxy. And I paid around $100+ AUD in shipping for these. But that’s because I had to pay domestic shipping to Accio Tokyo for 3 of my orders. So I pay a whole lot of money for this kind of stuff... And it’s certainly not cheap.

Moving on xD The photos of the clearfile & Photo Plate are below to avoid any spoilers if no one wants to see them.

With the OchaRock Drama DVD Box, the 60 page photobook they have in there is so adorable I miss the cast already! And I thought I completely missed the benefit window, but since the link I used for my proxy to buy it for me no longer works, I can assume that I still made it in time? xD The benefit from silkroadstore was an Original Double pocket Clear-file. It has DYDARA on one side & DIC on the other.

And on the inside...

PRINTED SIGNATURES FROM THE CAST!

On the left side that’s DIC & Ryo and we have DYDARA on the other side! I was so surprised when I saw that I got the clear-file and to see what was on the inside, I kind of wanted to scream but I kept my cool xD I absolutely love it! And I might scan it when I have the time along with the stuff I still want to scan from W! Vol. 17 from MONTHS ago and possibly 2 other small things >.< And I might attempt to translate their messages if I have the time (^_^;;)

For Ryuji’s PB, I did have a quick flick through of it and... WHY IS THIS BOY SO GOD DAMN FLAWLESS & GORGEOUS? Jocelyn has basically brought Ryuji into my life so I do have some love towards the boy (but my main love and priority is Tsubasa xD). And there were many photo plates I could choose from and I could only afford 1 PB at that time, so I decided to go with Photo Plate E. Those who are not familiar with what it looks like, here it is:

My heart literally melted and died when I saw the sample. And then Jocelyn tried to kill me with it for a little while as well with the sample photos too, LOL! It’s basically a piece of glass with the photo put onto the back of it, so if it gets broken, that’s it >< But I will make sure I don’t do that! I might attempt to scan the Photo Plate as well, but I don’t know if I will post it publicly, or if I’ll just give it to those who I know that are Ryuji crazy xD

As for everything else I got, I can’t wait to watch Kuji Suna to see if there’s any changes from the 2016 version (besides some of the cast) and I’m actually excited to listen to the CD that comes with it. And the poster, I might put it up somewhere if I can (which reminds me, I STILL NEED TO PUT UP MY MAIN TSUBASA CALENDAR! DAMN UNI TAKING UP ALL OF MY TIME & MAKING ME FORGET *cries*).

The 2016 Kuji Suna pamphlet is smaller than the 2018 pamphlet too xD But the content is pretty good! (Now to find the DVD xD It’s hard since the DVD was made to pre-order, so none of them are brand new, but people in Japan put them up for in between 20,000-30,000 yen because they’re rare. But some of them aren’t in no good condition. So I waiting to find the perfect one!)

Lastly with TBB’s Live, since I have the CDs, it’s not complete without the Live. And I’m excited to see how it turned out :D I think it’s going to be pretty good!

[kapanbenernya]

Horizon: Zero Dawn -- There’s Only One or Two Giant Dinosaurs

Did you know that I own a PS4? Of course you don’t, why the fuck should you care? I’m literally a stranger on the internet that communicates to you via an internet post floating on the information superhighway like a piece of turd lost in the everflowing sea of turds in a septic tank. But enough rambling on the subject of human feces and back to the topic at hand, I own a PS4.

I used to own the PS2 and I remember having a CD holder shaped like a thick book that holds all my PS2 DVDs, and I remember it being filled to the brim until I have to double-stack the DVDs or else it won’t fit. So why did I bring this up? Because I want to compare that to my PS4 library which consists of 4 blu-rays. No I’m not fucking kidding, I only got 4 games, two of which are a copy of Bloodborne that I had to buy twice because I bought the wrong fucking region and the DLC won’t connect. 

Maybe right now you’re asking yourself, “What’s with the rambling man?” and well... Here’s the thing, I’m gonna be honest from the start: I wasn’t that into Horizon: Zero Dawn (HZD). I bought it just as a filler, to bulk up my library of PS4 exclusives. So yes, I just wasted two paragraphs explaining that I didn’t buy HZD because I think I’ll enjoy it, I bought HZD just to own it and maybe get a kick out of it or two.

Oh well, let’s talk about the game anyway

In this game, you play as Aloy, a woman without a mother in a tribe that places value on matriarchy, which is why she is branded an outcast by her tribe. Wait what? Doesn’t matriarchal society puts more privilege and power on women? So why was she shunned? She’s a woman! Shouldn’t she be given power instead of you know, kicked out?

Something tells me this tribe doesn’t respecc whamen as much as they think they do

But Aloy isn’t all alone in this cold cruel robotic world, she’s got a foster dad whose name I already forgot. I mean it’s not my fault, he’s not that important anyway. All he does is teach Aloy everything she ever knew so that she can go to the yearly outcast acceptance tryouts, nothing important there. Sarcasm aside, it’s still kinda true that his only purpose in the game is to be the plot advancing sacrificial lamb. No spoiler alert needed! His death flag has been raised ever since he become the parental figure of the protagonist, kinda like Batman’s parents or Uncle Ben. 

But no worries, his sacrifice wasn’t in vain because Aloy finally gets accepted into the tribe! By virtue of being the sole survivor of the test because some tribe of edgy fuckboys killed everybody else. And not long after, some killer robots showed up at the door, late to party and and thrashed the place up some more. With the tribe left in tatters, Aloy is appointed as a scout and sent into the world to figure out the threat that looms over the world. Also, Aloy may or may not have been born from a mountain and now have a personal quest of finding out about her origin. And if she had extra time, probably find out whatever it is the old Shaman smoked until she came to the flawless logic that mountains can give birth to humans.

The threat is, as usual: robots gone apeshit

Have I mentioned that the setting of the world is a post-apocalyptic world where people formed tribes and most animal have been replaced by robots? So yeah, two very important aspect of the HZD world. Anyway, the robots and the humans live happily among each other, and by that I mean they kill each other every time their gaze meet. But so far, things have been manageable as long as the humans stay the fuck away from the robot’s territory and vice versa. 

Let me explain about the robots a bit. The robots are various versions of wild animal replacements: stags, bulls, leopards, hawks, saber-toothed tigers, giant fire-breathing chickens, and 30-foot tyrannosaurus rex with frickin’ laser beams.

We all know the mastermind behind the fucking dino, don’t we?

As you can see from my incomplete list alone, the robot variety is rather robust. And the variety is supported by the uniqueness of each robot species. Every robot has different weaknesses based on elements and since the design of each robots is largely varied, the locations of the weak points can be very different. I can see the love and care that went into designing each species, and it shows. Although I gotta admit the herbivores are kind of boring when compared to the carnivores. The herbivores are kinda samey and lame, all you get to do is maybe ride it to town and turn some primitive heads. Meanwhile, the carnivore’s got all the nice toys. The kind of toys that shoots laser and kills people. And guess what? You can shoot the turret off with an arrow then you can pick it up and fire it up their tail pipes.

Now I gotta say, the first time I see the robots, I was like “fuckin’ sold, this shit is G U C C I”. But then after I actually play the game and have come face to face with a lot of them, I wasn’t into them anymore. I don’t know why, but I find the enemies boring after a while. Perhaps its because somehow I find fighting the animal bots has become a chore and not a fun activity to do. I mean the animal bots tend to flock together, so you’re almost always outnumbered, and the bots usually can kill you in a few smacks. This results in a lot of untimely deaths during what I thought would be a sunny stroll in the meadows. Also I think the big machines have too much health. As you can see, I don’t think this is a good thing, the same way a rubber tire isn’t an excellent snack just because you can chew it longer. However, you can actually make all of these problems go away if you choose to stealth it up and crouch like the little bitch that YOU ARE. Hey, dev-person-man-guy-thing, nobody in their right mind looks at a robot T-Rex and say, “Boy, I can’t wait to stealth crouch around this bad boy”. You know what we wanna do? We wanna ride it, or kill it, or ride it AND THEN kill it. Maybe take down a few rival tribes in the process.

And that’s just the fuckin animal bots, there’s also the war bots that looks like a cereal box that grew spider legs. Not only is it visually boring, it’s also plays like shit. Either you have to go play hide and seek with it or it’ll blast you with piss like you’re a really tough shit-stain on the toilet bowl. But the worst of the worst has got to be the human enemies. Fucking hell, in a world filled with creative animal robots, adding human enemies will just bring the standard down. They’re boring to look at, boring to fight against, and just plain stupid. I hate how the so-called “stealth kill” alerts every motherfucker in the area. I hate how you can’t stealth kill the “elite enemies” until you unlock a certain skill. In short, I just hate humans in general.

Not in real life, mind you, I’m a God-fearing peace loving man of the people, man.

Great, since I’ve run out of places to spank HZD, I’m just gonna randomly list all of its best parts.

I like how we can grab some healing items that can be used on-the-go in an instant, and I like how it can be easily found in the wilds like some drive-through salad. What I don’t think I like is how the plants aren’t that easy to differentiate from one another. I mean if I’m gonna make a jump, roll, tumble, and scoot myself down a goddamn hill while dodging lasers fired from a turret mounted on a 20-foot robot tyrannosaurus, that plant better be the healing plant instead of that useless resist fire plant. 

Another thing I like about the game is the weapons. There are quite a variety of weapons at your disposal, and it’s the good kind of variety. The kind of variety that makes each weapon had a distinct feel and different purpose, and I like them all. My favorite is the the tripwire weapon that’s the greatest thing since the invention of fire. The sleeper hit was the sling that I thought was shit but it’s actually great because it can fire ice projectiles that immobilizes the big enemies and freeze their armor. 

This very very tight weapon system is also supported by your ability to craft ammo on the fly. This might seem like a trivial thing, but hear me out now: by enabling you to craft ammo mid-fight, the game makes sure that the pace isn’t halted by the fucking menu screen and you get to keep your focus and maintain the flow of the battle. Because you know what kills my combat boner when I’m in a middle of a tense fight against robot dinosaurs? Having to pause the game and open up the crafting tab because my arrows ran out.

That’s it, that’s about everything I can say about my experience playing the game. There are some things that I actually left out of my review like the world design, the characters, etc. It’s because I think that it’s not that important to mention or it’s just mildly mediocre and not worth reviewing.

In Brief

What’s wrong with me? Do I not like video games anymore? 10 years ago, all I had to do was fire up my PS2, boot up GTA: San Andreas and just grab a bike and cycle from Los Santos to Las Venturas and I was having fun. 5 years ago I finished Dark Souls after 2 years of git gud, and I didn’t let the difficulty break me. Now I’ve got a game filled with creative and challenging enemies, a big open world to explore, and a fuckin robot dinosaur for God’s sake. Why didn't I have fun with it? I don’t think I have an immediate answer for it, but at least I know there’s two possibilities. One, is that I AM actually losing my touch and I’m not that into video games anymore. Probably all this adult thing and living my life that’s gotten in the way. The other one is that my tastes has actually gotten better with time, and now I notice the intricacies and can distinguish whether a game is good or bad, and I simply did not want to waste my limited time with games that I didn’t really like that much, including HZD.

I guess we can learn something from the animal robot designs. No matter how well you design an element of a game; visually or audibly, it won’t be appreciated as much if it does not add much to the gameplay --or worse-- plays like shit. Because you ARE making a game, and all the elements that you design will ultimately be judged from how it feels as a game. You can paint the robots with naked titties, but if they’re boring to fight, people will still think of them as badly designed. As for the case of the war bots and the human enemies? Dogshit.

9/10/2018

[ai-da-ice]

ai-da-ice in Japan: Settling In

[For all of you who have had questions about my trip to Japan thus far or just want to know what it’s like living here, I’ve decided to start a little journal of my experiences here :D If you’re here for the music, don’t worry– I pretty much am, too. The content will definitely include J-pop/Da-iCE related things and goodies!]

Week 1: Arriving, Lost in Shibuya, Da-iCE Shopping in Harajuku

This summer I went to see Da-iCE in San Jose, California with a layover in Texas, which took seven hours. That was the longest flight I’d ever been on, and it had seemed incredibly long at the time, especially since I was really antsy and eager to see the boys. Well, that flight had absolutely nothing on my trip to Japan, which was 5 hours to San Francisco, 2 hours to Vancouver, then 10 hours to Tokyo + layover waiting time. Luckily, unlike my San Jose flight, there was free entertainment provided on the flight to Tokyo–I watched the excellent animated movie “Your Name”–as well as yummy dinner service. Plus, I actually managed to get some sleep this time, though not particularly comfortable sleep.

I left Ohio at 7:00 am on the 28th and arrived in Tokyo on the 29th at 6:30 JST PM. Sounds impressive, but of course that factors in all the time zone changes that happened along the way. Needless to say, I was dead tired by time I arrived. I was so out of it that I didn’t even freak out when the airline told me my suitcase with all my clothes and bedding hadn’t arrived with the plane. I was just like “Whatever, they’ll take care of it, just get me to the nearest bed.”

It was too late to check into my apartment, so I took a taxi to a nearby hostel. It was a pretty neat setup with sleep pods that look tiny but were surprisingly cozy. I was on an all girls floor, and everyone I shared the space with was nice and quiet. So if you ever go to Japan and don’t want to pay for a hotel, I highly recommend trying one of these hostels out. I can’t say I slept soundly the whole night, but that’s more because my body was confused about why I wasn’t living in Eastern Standard Time anymore. The next few days were more of the same as I put up with waves of jet lag.

Anyways, after my one night in a sleep pod, I took another taxi to my apartment. On this adventure, I learned several things: 1) Street names are incredibly uncommon in Japan. Addresses are numbered by the “block number” and “building number,” but are not necessarily given names. This was not a happy realization for me, since I get lost even when there are street names 2) Because of this, Japanese taxi drivers may need your assistance in finding your building if they don’t have reliable GPS, but most don’t speak English. Cue to my taxi driver being unable to find my apartment, me being unable to help him, me having no phone service to call for help, and me finally being awake enough to panic. Luckily, we managed to find it after some roaming. 3) The taxi drivers are nice and fair otherwise. During the time we got lost, the taxi driver didn’t charge me since he said it wasn’t my fault. Thank you, sir!

So, I checked in to my apartment, where I am sharing a divided-by-partitions and semi-private room with 3 other girls. It’s on the small side, but cozy. Since my phone was locked to North America, and I couldn’t set up my internet without getting a router, I was a little freaked out about venturing out to the no-named streets without direction back up. Luckily, I was paying attention to the layout of my neighborhood when we were lost, and was able to find my way to the main street to get myself some bento and familiarize myself with some of the nearby stores.

When I was done with that, I was ready to pass out to sleep. Unfortunately, my lost suitcase hit me right about then. I did have pajamas in my carry on, but no bedding or day clothes to wear the next day. I had to sleep on my mattress with only a tiny fleece blanket and a neck pillow. Not comfortable. At all.

The next day, thank god, my suitcase arrived for me. After unpacking, I registered my address at the ward office, a must-do if you’re a non-tourist in Japan. I couldn’t get a Japanese cell phone without doing so, and it serves as a substitute for a driver’s license, and is also easier than constantly using a passport for an ID. I also found a wireless hotspot for my laptop so I could research where I could go get a cell phone to use in Japan. There are a few phone companies with customer service in English, and the most promising was a SoftBank in Shibuya. Since I wanted to go there anyways to see Tower Records and visit the Da-iCE promotion at SPINNS, I decided to go the next day.

Naturally, I was anxious about going to an unfamiliar area with unnamed roads without GPS, and it went about as badly as I expected. Getting to Shibuya Station was easy, but there were a gazillion SoftBank locations marked in Shibuya. It was just as I was stepping out of the station and about to freak out that I saw Da-iCE's banner and was able to calm down. 

 I couldn't find any of the SoftBanks I was looking for, but did manage to find Tower Records. I hunted down the Da-iCE section and roamed a bit, but was so anxious about the cell phone situation that I didn't enjoy myself as much as I normally would. I went back out into Shibuya and spent about two hours getting lost and finding the wrong SoftBanks before finally finding the one with English staff. My poor leg muscles were throbbing. 

 A few hours later, I had my cell phone and GPS! No more getting lost! It was the last day of Da-iCE's Harajuku promos, so I hauled tail over there. I didn't have time to explore Harajuku as much as I would have liked, but made it to SPINNS on time to get swag and some fashionable Da-iCE clothes. After getting my phone, everything in my life became so much easier.

A post shared by Julie (@ai_da_ice) on Jan 31, 2017 at 3:59am PST

Week 2: Training, Odaiba, and Settling In

During my second week, I was mainly busy completing my work training, but I also had my first Da-iCE event at Odaiba’s Venus Fort Mall. You can read about that here, but I would also like to add a little bit about Odaiba and Venus Fort. Odaiba is an artificial island on Tokyo Bay that is mainly filled with commercial shopping centers and ports. You can see the Rainbow Bridge from the island, and also they have this really cool and HUGE Gundam inhabiting the Diver City area. And I mean HUGE.

The Venus Fort mall itself was lux~ury. Definitely way cooler than my hometown mall.

Settling in to Tokyo was surprisingly easy for me. I had big-city living experience having spent several years in New York, and Tokyo is like the politer, cleaner version of New York, minus the convenience of named streets. As a foreigner, there are some snags. The general population doesn’t speak English much, and my blonde-curly self sticks out like a sore thumb, and I don’t necessarily want everyone noticing me when I do embarrassing things like trip (often) or get lost (very often) or have to fight the wind for control of my hair (almost every second). However, I’ve managed pretty well thus far with my limited Japanese, and with my GPS, I can find my way around just fine. Convenient stores are everywhere, and where I live in Shinjuku is near major shopping districts. It’s not too difficult to find the things you need. If you’re visiting the Tokyo area without much knowledge of Japanese, I would recommend learning shopping terms and etiquette the most, since that’s probably where you’ll need it the most frequently.

Week 3: Work and Exploring Shinjuku Gyoen, Akihabara, and Korea Town

Lest anyone think I’m just here to see Da-iCE and get lost, my third week here was mostly spent working. BUT, on my two days off (Wednesday and Thursday), I decided to explore some areas I was interested in. I love taking nature walks, so first stop was Shinjuku National Gyoen, one of the biggest parks in the Shinjuku area. It’s best during spring according to the locals, but my winter stroll around the massive park was lovely. There’s a little bit of everything-- traditional gardens, greenhouses, lakes, old tea houses, small shrines, and various kinds of trees, though most were bare while I was there. There was a lot to see even though it wasn’t peak season, so if you also like spending a little quality time with nature, it’s highly recommended.

After getting my fill of the park, I headed to Otaku paradise, Akihabara. If you’re not sure what otaku stuff there is to do there, don’t worry. Just take two steps into the heart of the city and you’ll quickly find anime stores, gaming arcades, hobby shops, maid cafes, and more moe girl pictures than you can handle.

I selected the popular anime/manga/etc store “Animate” for the majority of my wanderings, which took quite a bit of time because there were tons of floors. Pretty much anything you could possibly want is in Animate, and if not the first Animate you find, then in one of the many other Animate shops in the area. There’s manga of all genres, merch of all kinds (key rings, body pillows, wall scrolls, cell phone covers, pins, buttons, figures, literally everything), OSTs and Drama CDs, collectibles and magazines for seiyuu fans, art books, yaoi, yuri, doujinshi, DVDs, and on and on and on. Heavily merchandised franchises like Love Live! or Uta no Prince-sama have the merch advantage, but if you hunt around enough, you’re sure to find something from your show of choice.

After resisting several impulse buys, I moved along to TRIO, an idol shop. If you’re into Johnny’s and Hello Project and the AKB48 + spinoffs, this is your kingdom. From photo cards to concert booklets to uchiwa of your ichiban/oshimen to lightsticks to fanzines, this place had it all. I was mostly on the male idol side, and there was so much Johnny’s stuff that I, a KAT-TUN fan, had to restrain myself every other second from grabbing everything. It frustrates me to no end that almost all of the stuff there isn’t available in some online form for international fans to purchase. There were so many amazing things that I wish I could take all international Johnny’s lovers there and watch them flip.

AAA also had a pretty sizable selection there, but there weren’t many other non-Johnny’s group represented on the male idol side. They did have some Da-iCE CDs though, and their most recent photobook.

The next day, I hit Korea Town near the Shin-Okubo station. If you love K-pop, this is pretty much heaven. EVERYTHING idol related you could want is here. Albums, DVDs, posters, lightsticks, key rings, hats, hoodies, pillows, fan books, concert photos, stickers, standees, bags, magazines, photobooks, EVERYTHING. Since my favorite group, TVXQ, is super popular in Japan, I was in heaven, and I finally broke down and decided to start spending money. There was a super good deal on small posters at one shop, 100 yen per poster, so I wound up getting 9...mostly TVXQ, but also VIXX, Bigbang’s TOP, and GOT7.

After checking out every single K-idol store in the vicinity (and there were A LOT), I went back to Tower Records in Shibuya to blow more money on music

A post shared by Julie (@ai_da_ice) on Feb 15, 2017 at 7:37pm PST

While I’m here in Japan, I want to keep building my J-pop collection without having to worry about the evils of shipping! I mainly want to work on FlowBack and X4 at the moment, but I would also love to get my hands on some Ebidan group DVDs, as well as check out some boy groups whose music was difficult to access overseas like XOX. I wound up getting 2 FlowBack CDs, “Shake the World” and “Come a Long Way” (I really wanted “Heartbreaker,” but the DVD version wasn’t in, unfortunately), as well as X4′s “Funk, Dunk, Punk”. Lastly, I got one of my fave K-pop groups 100%’s Japanese debut.

Goodbye, sweet money. I’m not even showing off all 9 posters here...

So, after all that, my legs are dying! I enjoyed my day-off exploring, so tomorrow it’s back to work!

[adultswim2021]

Sealab 2021 #15: “The Policy” | November 3, 2002 - 11:00 PM | S02E05

Nasty episode! I really hate it. In this one, Sparks gets Murphy to rack up credit card debt by lying to him about what credit cards are. Murphy then sends his crew to go find some pirate treasure on a World War 2 ship. This is a wild goose chase that proves to be deadly when it’s revealed that Sparks has rigged the whole thing with dynamite so he can kill them all and collect on their life insurance policies.

This results in one of the worst episodes of Sealab ever. I am certain that I’m repeating myself when I say this, but it’s astounding how bad this show got, and how many “new lows” the show had. When I watch these early bad episodes I am struck by the realization that there are episodes and even whole seasons that are actually worse than this.

Why is it bad? Well, the story is mostly coherent, but not particularly humorous. You can fix this by writing really funny jokes for each scene, but here they’ve delivered the bare minimum of what qualifies as a joke. Most of the comedy comes across as either dashed off or forced. Stormy is particularly awful in this episode, his schtick is that he’s convinced that there are pirate ghosts on the ship and keeps doing a ghost-story voice to go on and on about them. His crewmates get fed up immediately and just yell at him to shut up over and over. Usually Stormy’s stupidity results in fun back-and-fourth, but not here. Everyone just seems so... tired.  Was this the first draft of the script? And if not, what did that read like?

Weirdly enough, I found out a few things from the DVD commentary track: during a scene where we see the charred remains of Murphy’s hot tub, an artist on the show chimes in with “I drew that carbon scoring” and I remember getting this DVD and listening to these commentaries the day I got it and being like “holy shit, is THAT what that’s called???”. So, yeah, I literally know the term “carbon scoring” because of the DVD of this.

Also in the commentary there’s a part where they keep talking about how good the movie The Electric Horseman” is and somebody in the room scolds them for using a “third-party reference”. This leads them to question why it would be a problem, since all they’re doing is talking about how good the movie is. This wouldn’t be the first instance of Warner Bros.’ over-zealous standards and practices ruined an audio commentary track. For example: the kerfuffle over South Park’s season one commentary (Matt & Trey mentioning Contact was threatened to be edited out, causing them to pull the tracks and give them away on CDs). This was a real bummer to learn: the #1 aspect of Sealab that I’d wanna hear more information on was identifying the myriad of references each show makes. The fact that Warner Bros. wouldn’t let them do that for no good reason really sucks shit.

Enough DVD talk. Back to the episode. Here’s a brief exchange from the episode that, weirdly enough, once appeared in the signature of a message board I posted at, and iIt’s absolutely remarkable to me that anyone would quote this:

STORMY: When did pirates live? DEBBIE: Like, in the 1700s. STORMY: Were they Aztecs?

Maybe the last-funny piece of supposed-to-be-funny dialogue I’ve ever seen quoted for any reason. Yuck!

MAIL BAG

Anonymous writes:

No more Home Movies please. Either you are doing this to be funny or provocative or you have completely lost your mind. Either way! I would like to hear more about Aqua Teen and all the other great shows. This show is one nobody in their right mind would watch now. It looks too silly. Might as well be Blue's Clues for all I care. Thank you for understanding.

Thanks for your message. I’m not doing it to be provacative. In fact, I’m doing it to be kind. Thank YOU for UNDERSTANDing.

Kon! writes!

In around 1998-99 I wrote South Park fan fiction about a tornado hitting South Park Elementary. I didn't even have the internet then, it was just purely for the sport of it. There was a scene where Chef drives around and saves the boys, and a bit of dialogue comparing getting sucked into a tornado to a "fun ride". I think of it whenever I watch Storm Warning. Just thought I'd share.

Wow! Around that time I too tried to write a South Park once, and it was really terrible. It was based on literally this one bad kid I knew who said he wanted to join the IRA and murder protestants? And I had no real idea about what that actually meant other than what he himself told me and I came up with an idea that the boys go to a mini-golf place and they overhear that it’s run by protestants but they think it’s prostitutes and try to have sex. I forget how the IRA figured into it, but it did. I was WAY in over my head.

Anonymous writes:

You've wrapped up Simpsons Night for the year. How do you fee? A heavy burder lifted? Do you just feel plain silly for doing it? What? Why? Where? the 3 W's of jounralism. Thank you!

GREAT question. Simpsons Night was a real chore and I let it get pretty bad because I was on a fixed schedule. But it was honestly just a way for me to note which of the bad Simpsons episodes were truly bad and which ones were “almost good”, so I could, in theory, come up with some kind of list of episodes that might be worth rewatching, but good lord I’m almost fucking 40 (yikes) and I’ve seen the good seasons a billion times already and if I never watched the Simpsons again it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Luckily we live in AMERICA and as long as DVD players are legal they will never be able to take those episodes away from me.

[poop4u]

5 Tips to Keep Your Dog From Distracting You When You’re Working From Home

#Poop4U

The post 5 Tips to Keep Your Dog From Distracting You When You’re Working From Home by Melissa Whitten appeared first on Dogster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.

The coronavirus pandemic has given your dog a great gift: Their most favorite person in the whole world has to work from home. It’s an exciting time for dogs everywhere, but it can be stressful for dog owners working remotely for the first time.

It takes self-discipline and motivation to work from home, especially when you have an adorable dog begging for attention, treats, walks and cuddles. The puppy dog eyes, impatient pacing and frustrated whines can make you feel guilty and distract you from your work.

How do you establish a work-from-home routine that works for you and for your pup? Here are a few tips:

Photo: hobo_018/ Getty Images

Give your dog plenty of exercise before you start working. This can be long walks (of course, when taking your pup for a walk, practice responsible social distancing), vigorous games of fetch in the backyard or whatever physical activity your dog loves. Exercise helps dogs release pent-up energy and tires them out, so when it’s time for you to work, they’ll be ready for a nap. A tired dog is a good dog.

Related: How Dog Owners Should Prepare for the Coronavirus

Regular breaks are great for you and your pup. Have a tug of war, snuggle or take a short nap. Your dog will feel the love, and research has shown that taking breaks from work every 75 to 90 minutes increases productivity.

Have a treat-dispensing toy ready to go. If your dog is whining and giving you that “I need attention or I’ll die” look, it’s time to break out the treat toy. Treat toys make great long-lasting distractions when filled with peanut butter or your dog’s favorite treats. There are also puzzle toys that make your dog work hard for their treats. A mostly empty jar of peanut butter also works well if you don’t have a toy like this on hand.

Treats provide mental stimulation when your dog has to work for them, and this gives you some peace and quiet so you can get your work done. (Don’t use treat toys if you have multiple dogs and one of them is a resource guarder.)

Calming dog music. This one might sound a little far-fetched (sorry, can’t pass up a dog pun!), but calming music is part of a science-backed principle called “environmental enrichment” that helps reduce stress in animals.

There are many YouTube videos, CDs, DVDs and even DogTV with music specifically chosen to help your good boy or girl relax. Find one that looks good, hit “play,” and your pup may settle down in no time.

Try CBD oil. This may help if all the above options fall short. Some dogs have anxiety that exercise, mental stimulation and treats don’t cure. CBD oil is a nonpsychoactive chemical (i.e., it won’t get your dog “high”) found in cannabis.

Studies have shown CBD oil is effective for a variety of issues, including anxiety and pain. Your dog will feel better, and you’ll be able to get back to work. Talk to your veterinarian about CBD oil if you want to give this option a try. There are many different CBD products and you should research them first.

RedRover has created a COVID-19 resource list for pets owners who may need assistance or guidance during this crisis: https://redrover.org/news/coronavirus.

Top photograph: sturti/Getty Images

Read Next: Teach Your Dog a New Trick While You’re Stuck At Home

  The post 5 Tips to Keep Your Dog From Distracting You When You’re Working From Home by Melissa Whitten appeared first on Dogster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.

Poop4U Blog via www.Poop4U.com Melissa Whitten, Khareem Sudlow

[ktglitz]

The Toxic Avenger The Musical @ Arts Theatre West End (REVIEW)

It was back to the Arts Theatre tonight for our second showing of The Toxic Avenger The Musical. My relationship with The Toxic Avenger started way back in the late 80s when I attended a horror movie all-nighter at The Scala Cinema in King's Cross. If my murky memory is correct the bill was Night Of The Living Dead, The Toxic Avenger, Dawn Of The Dead, Driller Killer and Day Of The Dead. The Toxic Avenger was the best film on the bill and I left a fan. Throughout my life I've watched The Toxic Avenger many times along with the sequels (we are up to four films now). Being the good parent that I am I introduced Sam to Toxie when it was appropriate and he also became a big fan of him and all things Troma. This is the reason why we got so excited to hear that The Toxic Avenger The Musical. Well done to Toni for spotting the posted on the escalator wall on the underground. You've had my initial thoughts from when we went to see the show on Thursday 28th but I thought I'd write up something a little more in depth after round two. For the record, this show is NOT a horror and you certainly need no prior knowledge of Toxic for it to make sense or for it to provide enjoyment. Opening number "Who Will Save New Jersey" sets the scene for the depressed landscape that is Tromaville in New Jersey. The cast were all absolutely brilliant and they had an amazing chemistry between them that made everything work so well. Mark Anderson is absolutely superb as Melvin Ferd The Third and The Toxic Avenger. He can rock it up on numbers like "Kick Your Ass" but my word he has the voice of an angel when he sings his heart out to "Thank God She's Blind" and "You Tore My Heart Out". In fact the latter sends chills down my spine of emotional joy when he delivers. Emma Salvo is perfect as Sarah and very much reflects Toxie's girlfriend from the films. It can't be easy portraying a blind character but she pulls it off brilliantly. Like Mark she has a versatile voice and their duets together are sublime especially "Hot Toxic Love". Natalie Hope plays Melvin's bedraggled mother and also Tromaville Mayor and femme fatale. Two very contrasting roles that she brings life to life. Her double act for "Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore" is simply phenomenal. Oh and check your temperature when she vamps it up for "Jersey Girl" and "Evil Is Hot". Oscar Conlon-Morrey is a man who puts everything into his work. Every character he portrayed was larger than life.... and he portrayed many characters. His manic cop and folk singer were particular favourites of mine especially as one of my favourite songs is "Legend Of The Toxic Avenger". Che Francis like Oscar had many characters to play and boy did he play them with gusto. There were many costume changes and there was some superb singing and dancing. Stand out of the night for me was his duet with Natalie Hope for "Evil Is Hot". Then we have the band. These guys can play and give it their all. Thanks to a fantastic sound engineer everything is perfectly balanced. The soundtrack, written by Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan, is simply amazing and I've been listening to it non-stop since last week. I never get tired of listening to it. I really hope someone considers doing either a CD or DVD release of this current show as I'd love to have a copy as a memento. A big shout out has to also go to everyone behind the scenes that put this show together. From set design to make-up and props everything was just perfect and was completely in keeping with the Troma ethic. After seeing The Toxic Avenger The Musical the first time I said that it was my second favourite musical after Phantom Of The Opera and pushing Rocky Horror Show into third place. This has now changed. Toxic is well and truly the number one spot. It is fun, irreverent, and a fantastic night out. http://dlvr.it/PsgGKn

[m0rgansux]

I’m a Girl / Boy. I am a morning person. I am a perfectionist. With most things. I am an only child. I am Catholic. (technically) I am currently in my PJs. I am currently pregnant. I am currently suffering from a broken heart. I am left handed. I am married. I am addicted to MySpace. Twitter. TUMBLR. Facebook. I’m shy around the opposite sex. I bite my nails. I currently regret something I have done. When I get mad I curse. I don’t like anyone. I enjoy country music. I enjoy jazz music. I have a car. (I DON’T BUT I’M GETTING ONE TUESDAY BY THE TIME THIS POSTS I WILL HAVE A CAR) I have a cell phone. I have a pet. I have at least one brother or sister. I have been to another country. I have been told that I’m smart. I have been told that I have an unusual sense of humor. I have had a broken bone. I have changed a lot over the past year. I have had surgery. I have killed another person. (JESUS CHRIST) I have had my hair cut within the last week. I have had the cops called on me. I have kissed someone I knew I shouldn’t. I have kissed someone of the same gender. I have mood swings. I have rejected someone before. I have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have watched Sex and the City. I like Shakespeare. I love to cook. I love Michael Jackson. I love sleeping. I love to shop. I miss someone right now. I own over 100 CDs. I own over 100 DVDs. I own and use a library card. I practice a religion. I read books for pleasure in my spare time. I sleep a lot during the day. I strongly dislike math. I think Britney Spears is pretty. I will try ALMOST anything once. I work at a job that I enjoy. I would classify myself as ghetto. I can name all seven dwarfs from Snow White. I am currently wearing socks. I am tired. I am currently waiting for someone. I lost contact with someone. I hate Miley Cyrus. I think Party In The USA is catchy. I’d date Harry Potter. I am American. I can name all the past presidents of the United States. I know who was president before George Bush. I love pickles. I need the internet to live. I prefer vanilla over chocolate. I watched Star Trek. I watched all of Star Wars. I own an Xbox. I think music is life.